Slippery When Wet
by LeSylph
Summary: In which Sharon wishes Helo can come up with a better nickname for her and Helo prepares the best meal ever. Pre-series. SharonHelo.


This is slightly AU and set sometime before Galactica was scheduled to be decommissioned. And yes, it is somewhat Boomer/Helo but that gets addressed at the end, have no fear. Well you might fear my writing but it _is _1am, what can I say. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Battlestar Galactica or any of the characters...

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It was about to start raining again, she could tell. The sky, which had momentarily brightened, was once again being obscured by clouds. She sure as hell hoped that he would decide to meet up with her before the rain kicked in again. 

"Hey kiddo." Helo slung an arm around her shoulders and she looked up at him, raising her eyebrows.

She decided to respond with, "Hey old man, you're late. Age can make you slower you know." Laughing at him as he removed his arm, Sharon couldn't help but notice the slightly hurt look on his face.

Giving her a light punch on the shoulder, he frowned. "Old man? I'm not that much older than you."

She shrugged and started walking backwards in front of him. "You called me kiddo, I'm not that much younger than you."

Not about to back down he tilted his head, feigning thought. "Come to think of it, old man does sound kind of distinguished, doesn't it?"

Sharon was about to retort when her foot slipped on the wet bricks. Finding herself flat on her back she groaned slightly. For a fleeting second she thought about how if she was Starbuck, she'd be laughing hysterically. Instead she felt her face flush as Helo came into view. He knelt down beside her, "You all right kiddo?"

Pushing herself up on her elbows she grimaced. "I would be, if you quit calling me that."

The bite in her voice did nothing to deter him. "You tripped walking backwards, I think you deserve it." The wink he gave her said he wasn't serious and he reached out a hand to help her up.

Standing up without his help she held out her hands out, palms up, as if in explanation. "I'm bleeding."

Gently taking her hands in his he examined them. Her hands felt smooth and small in his and he guided them until he could see them in vanishing light. "Doesn't look too bad, just scraped up a little. My place is a little ways away; we can get them cleaned up."

He put an arm around her shoulders again and looked down at her. "So, how about if I shorten it to kid?"

Knowing that he wasn't going to give up she sighed. "Fine, it's slightly more tolerable."

Following him up the stairs of his apartment she now knew the reason the man was so fit. "Helo, you live on what…the fiftieth floor? Aren't there elevators or something?"

"Aw come on kid, live a little. Besides, I only live on the twenty-second floor."

It wasn't necessarily the climb that bothered her; it was the fact that walking up twenty two flights of stairs seemed monotonous and inefficient. That and her hands were really starting to sting.

Opening the door he ushered her in, cursing inwardly at the mess. His living room was haphazardly covered in books, plates, and the odd t-shirt. "Sorry that it's so disorganized."

Sharon shrugged; it wasn't the worst place that she had seen. "It's not bad. At least you have the view to distract you from it." She was referring to the large glass window overlooking a small park. As rain started to splash against it she turned and grinned. "Looks like we got here just in time."

He smiled in return. "I'd have to agree with you there." He cocked his head towards a hallway, "Come on, time to get your hands cleaned up." Pushing open the bathroom door he turned on the tap, and allowed the warm water to run for a minute. He grabbed a bottle of alcohol and Sharon's jaw tightened. Noticing this, he teased, "what's the matter, afraid of a little sting?"

"Not at all." Sharon had never been the type of girl who cried when she got scraped up. She'd broken her wrist when she was younger and hadn't even shed a tear.

"Ok then, give me your hands." He reached for them but she hesitated. "What?"

"You don't need to help me Helo, I'm not a kid."

Grabbing her hands he held them under the running water. "I know."

"Looking for an excuse to hold my hands then?"

Instead of laughing like she thought he would, he shrugged. "Something like that."

She dried her hands off and looked at the crisscrossing red lines. There were a few places where the bleeding had started again and she held her hands out to him.

Picking up the bottle he glanced at her. "Ready?"

"Go for it." She bit her lip as he dropped the liquid onto her cuts but it didn't sting as much as she had imagined it would. He was finished quickly and he screwed the bottle up tight and put it back in the cabinet, pulling out a few bandaids. She started to giggle, "Oh gods Helo, do those…do those bandaids have smiley faces on them?"

He scowled. "Hey, if you prefer not to have them…"

"No, no they're great. But you call _me_ kid?"

After he had finished, he tossed the box onto the edge of the sink. "So now that we're all finished with that, what do you want to do?"

She shrugged. She wasn't exactly eager to go anywhere when the rain was starting to sound more like glass pellets; then again she wasn't exactly wanting to take over his apartment and who knew how long the rain would last. The day certainly wasn't getting any younger and she would have to leave at some point in time. "Umm…I don't know, I guess I could get going. I mean, I don't want to impose or anything."

Shaking his head he started back towards the living room and she followed. "You're not going out while the weather's like this." Seeing her about to protest he held a hand up, "Really Sharon, it's starting to get dark and I'm not going to let you walk home by yourself…and I'm not about to go back out there. Besides, weren't we planning on grabbing something to eat?"

Nodding she went ahead and took a seat on his couch, pushing some books off with her feet. "Yeah, I guess we were."

"So you aren't going to help me cook dinner?"

Holding up her hands she grinned, "I'm wounded; looks like you'll have to manage without me."

"At least give me some company." He opened his refrigerator and looked at the contents. There really wasn't much. "All right, I'm thinking some fried vegetables and…" he was at a loss.

Sharon had opened his cabinets and tossed a few packets of noodles at him. "Noodles and veggies, sounds good to me."

"All right then, prepare yourself for the best meal you've ever had."

Watching him from her perch on the countertop, Sharon couldn't manage to keep a smile off her face. She had to admit that in uniform Helo looked pretty good. But standing there in his kitchen cooking in jeans and a t-shirt, he somehow looked even better.

She had met him before she had been assigned to Galactica. Kara had introduced them. They had hung out a few times, the three of them. Mainly Kara and Helo had dragged her along when they went bar hopping. And there Sharon had witnessed that Kara could indeed become even louder and crazier than normal, and Helo had a way with women.

Her first day assigned to Galactica she had been told that her ECO was Karl Agathon. When Helo came striding over to her, grin plastered on his face, it had taken her a moment to recollect that the first night they had met, Helo had shook her hand and introduced himself as Karl.

She had thought they were friends, but after spending time with him in the cockpit she realized that what they were before was nothing compared to what they were now. Now she would venture to say that Helo was the best friend she could ever have. She could tell him anything, he told her everything, and she would trust him with her life.

So the fact that she was sitting on his counter while he cooked a meal and it was pouring rain outside seemed so…normal.

Since it was just the two of them, they ate on the couch. Feet propped up on the coffee table with the TV's volume just loud enough to be heard over the rain. "You know Helo; I don't think I've felt this relaxed since I started flight school."

"Kind of depressing that it won't last. Two more days and then it's back on Galactica for one final run. Who knows after that."

Sharon was silent for a moment. "Just so you know, since we'll probably be assigned to different ships, you're the best ECO in the fleet."

He kicked her foot. "Is that all?"

Rolling her eyes she kicked him back. "All right, you're also the best friend I could ever ask for."

Apparently this wasn't what he had been expecting because he set down his plate and looked at her. "Really?"

She paused to think about it for a moment. "Yeah, really. I mean come on Helo, I'm stuck with you for hours on end and I still haven't had the urge to kill you. I think that says something."

What she didn't want to mention was how, for a time, she had entertained the idea of what it would be like if she and Helo were more than friends. Then there were those nights when they would go out together and on a few occasions Helo had left with a girl attached to his side. That had ended her idea because Sharon didn't want to be one of those girls. She wanted someone who was sweet and steady. The Chief had been edging in conversations every time they saw one another and eventually those conversations had led to dates and those dates had led to more. She had labeled Helo as strictly friend and that was that.

Except now that she was sitting on the couch with him, allowing her legs to dangle over his, some part of her wished that she hadn't been so shy and one night it was her attached to Helo's arm. As the night wore on she turned so that her head was resting on his lap so she could look up at him while they spoke. They were talking about anything and everything they could think of and Sharon wasn't even aware of drifting off to the sounds of Helo's breathing and the constant drumming of the rain.

The room was cast in shadows when she woke and fuzzily she realized that the sky must still be heavy with rain clouds. Then her mind fuzzily realized that she lying on top of someone and they had their arms wrapped loosely around her. Realizing that it was Helo she quickly scrambled up, causing him to groggily push himself into a sitting position. "Gods, what time is it?"

She looked at the clock on the tv, "Frak! I'm supposed to be meeting someone for breakfast."

Grinning, Helo ran a hand through his short hair, "I'm guessing you aren't going to tell him that we slept together?"

Giving him a hard punch to the arm she glared, "First of all, do that and you're a dead man. Second, we did not sleep together."

He laughed, "But it sounds good."

Splashing water on her face, Sharon groaned. She looked horrible. There were large dark circles under her eyes and her hair was a mess. Managing to fix it into a decent looking ponytail she decided that she looked as good as she was going to.

Helo was leaning against the door, dressed and ready to go and Sharon raised an eyebrow. "Where are you headed?"

"Out." He saw the look on her face, "No worries, I promise I won't tag along."

They rode the elevator down and when they were standing outside he gave her a hug. "See you back on Galactica…kid."

"See you."

They walked their separate ways.

That was how Athena knew that she wasn't the same as the other Sharon. Because she knew that if it had been her, she wouldn't have walked in a different direction. It wasn't about if's or but's…it was about knowing. And Athena knew it with the utmost certainty.

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Umm...I might have to clarify the last part, it made sense in my head. Basically Athena's accessed one particular memory of Boomer's and is sort of reflecting on it.

Reviews welcome, criticism included.


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